Florida squash supplies look thin

Supplies of squash coming out of the Florida region are looking slim right now.

“Squash is rather tight after that cold snap that we had a week ago,” says Calvert Cullen with Cheriton, Va.-based Northampton Growers Produce Sales Inc. “Compared to a year ago, supplies are about 40 percent less and that’s across both green and yellow squash.”

While supplies were already a little slim after Hurricane Irma that in part hit Florida in early September, the weather isn’t helping. “I think squash will continue to be tight for a few weeks and then the new plantings come off,” Cullen says. Northampton generally carries squash from Florida from early November to early May.

Weather a factorThe weather seems to have affected demand for the hearty gourd as well. “Demand for squash has been steady but it probably would be stronger if the weather up north was better,” says Cullen. “I think it’s been holding things back.” Cullen adds that supplies before and during Christmas were also steady.

Altogether that adds up to some higher pricing for squash. “They’ve been high for a while now,” says Cullen.

And they may continue to stay high since Cullen anticipates more of the same in the coming weeks. “We expect it to stay like this for two to three weeks. Then the new plantings will come off,” he says.